Thematic Curiosity
This is the 3rd chapter of IW Season One. It's about lesbian romance. Signs of Bonding Day 1/Hidden Kakariko/Lynn Annei/Morning "Ah, thanks." Lynn thanked Kae as she accepted the milk. A few quick quaffs and the cup was emptied. "Wonderful..." She looked up from the table. "Kae... How long are you going to sit here in town casting bones and reading tea leaves? That's well and goof ro your vague impressions, but it's not going to save Hyrule. With your magic, you could serve His Majesty so much better in the field, as a mage, actively killing these invaders before they can kill our citizens!" Lynn pushed her empty plate further onto the table, signifying that she was finished with the breakfast and stood. "Hidden Kakariko. Secret Elite Soldiers. We don't mix with the normal troops for a reason. Haven't you ever wondered about it all?" Then she moved to the door, her back turned to Kae as a sign of trust. She stopped halfway out, cocking her head to speak over her shoulder. "We're assassins, Kae." Kae Bryseis/Kakariko/Mid-Dawn/Day 1 The reiteration of Sheikah purpose struck home with Kae, as did the reasoned words of Lynn. "Let me know when you're ready to head out then. I've not used the magic to kill before, but I assure you of its potency." Reading tea leaves and casting bones could only go so far. "So, you are learning...legal kills are the best kind. I was just like you once, apprentice..." "Also...thanks for eating with me. I look forward to fixing our food in the field!" Kae followed her out of the house after cleaning up and left the shard in the stove to do its gentle reheating of Nora's food, and headed right for the target range. Conjuring a few more Star Shards, Kae focused her energy to a degree that she hadn't before. A purplish-white light shone from her tattoos and her eyes, and she took a battle stance. One of the shards formed into a sword and found its place in her left hand. Soft breezes started to kick up. Her right was cupped and facing one of the targets...and then she unloaded. A surge of wind rippled from around her as three quick blasts connected square in the center of the dummy's chest. Words of power in their utterance called forth even more, destroying stacks of hay, barrels, and other things that people were shooting at. The beams didn't explode, but they seared through just about everything they touched. As she was firing, the targets didn't look like wooden dummies. They looked like the enemy. They responded like the enemy. Kae saw their eyes as life left them...and the thrill was unimaginable. Some of the Sheikah practicing their archery summarily stopped and looked at her very oddly. "Give them a deep look, apprentice. Don't feel bad about killing them. They deserve all the pain you can give. Make them regret their crimes...and good eggs, by the way." Kae chuckled morbidly as she took her sword in her dominant hand and started practicing basic technique with it...if she was going to war, she had to remember all the nice tricks and such her brother and father had given her. It was starting to click...all this training to destroy...why didn't she see it in all the years of study? Day 1/Hidden Kakariko/Lynn Annei/Morning Lynn traveled a small pace behind Kae, silent as she allowed the fortune teller to absorb the ramifications of her choices. She wondered what would happen if they did end up running into her brother Jaden. Would Kae's resolve falter before the familiar face? Ah, thought Lynn, the training yards. So she is serious. She watched for a few seconds as Kae focused her power and began igniting practice dummies. It was a pretty impressive display. Except for one glaring deficiency. It was something that would get her killed, and Lynn intended to save Kae the embarrassment of an early grave. She unsheathed one of her short swords. Kae continued her fun, with a gleam of angry death in her eyes. And Lynn did what she was trained to do. She snuck. Through the maelstrom of deadly lights, she made her way closer to Kae, as straw flew through the air around her, alight with the magical strength of Kae's emanations. As Kae's focus settled on dummy after dummy, bale after bale, the bolts and the crystals, Lynn allowed it all to flow over and through her, taking in the information of the training yard to allow her smooth and safe movement; nothing touched her. Nothing even singed her jumpsuit. And then she struck! Her arms circled the mage, interrupting her concentration. A steel blade against her throat helped to bring the peril to mind. "Fancy light show, mage." Lynn whispered with a deep voice, attempting to frighten her friend with something unfimiliar. "But it can't save you from my blade." Kae Bryseis/Kakariko/Mid-dawn/Day 1 Surprise attacks seemed to be Kae's biggest weakness. Even worse, being built like a scholar made getting out of grapples more of a challenge. Throw in a cold blade at the throat to interrupt concentration, and away went Kae's weapon. The glowing blade turned back into a shard and floated helplessly out of her reach. "Sweep the leg and your throat's cut as she falls. Elbow her in the side, ditto. No time to think, use your head!" Jaden didn't put the blade into the equation when he wrestled his sister around in their childhood, but some of those memories came to mind. How did she get out of it before? She bit him. Hard. But now her assailant's hand was out of reach. The only solution she could think of would probably cut her off from magic use for a time...and it was probably going to hurt her as badly as it hurt her assailant. If it worked, she'd be free...if it didn't, she'd have to try something else...and hopefully something non-lethal, but few of those rotes existed in the grimoire she'd constructed. It was a desperation move. Knowing the skull had a bit of weight to it, Kae threw her head back, hoping to follow the sound and connect well enough to stun her attacker. Day 1/Hidden Kakariko/Morning/Lynn Annei Lynn's head snapped back with the blow, a small attempt to absorb the force of the impact. No real damage was done, but her nose still hurt like a bitch. She briefly stumbled back, enough to release Kae from the grapple; and then she sneezed. Embarrassing, maybe, but she had to give Kae credit: that was an unexpected move from the mage. She smirked. "Nice. But now? Now I'm going to actually try." She dropped backward, catching herself on her left arm, and swept her right leg forward, aiming to catch Kae's ankles and drop her to the ground. The quick moves a Sheikah-ninja could surprise even those who were ready for them. Lynn was counting on Kae not being ready for the attack. Kae Bryseis/Kakariko/Mid-dawn/Day 1 Kae was surprised when she was released from the grapple, but quite dazed. She saw the glowing shard just out of her reach, but there was no time to get it. As she was trying to pivot around, Lynn's sweep caught her and she went hurtling to the ground. "Always face your opponent! If you can't see an attack, you can't avoid it." She tried to twist her waist as she fell...and it kind of worked. There was a searing pain in her right wrist; it landed right on the shard that had been out of her grasp. It broke the skin, and it was attuned to her. Kae didn't have time to concentrate in order to weave the effect properly, so the energy took its default action: it started to convert her arm and shoulder into celestial matter. This hurt a lot worse than the fall, and Kae's painful shriek didn't hide this fact much. It took a lot to keep focus on Lynn... Her arm was glowing in the same purple light...there was a good reason why she didn't use this rote...it hurt, and it was unpredictable. The arcane energy would either numb her arm and make it more durable, or it would cause caustic energy burns when the effect wore off. If it worked, she'd have a weapon that couldn't be disarmed. Trying to buy even a few spare seconds, she took a defensive posture on the ground. Day 1/Hidden Kakariko/Lynn Annei/Morning Kae hit the ground harder than Lynn had intended, apparently. Her cries were surprisingly vivid. But then Lynn saw the arm, a purple effervescence as Kae's magicks transformed the limb into, presumably, a weapon. Lynn sprung forward from her awkward crouch and quite literally pounced on Kae, her hands grabbing Kae's arm and attempting to pin the transforming limb to the ground. "No you don't." she said lowly as she unceremoniously sat on her chest. With a smirk downward, she taunted the mage, "Well, now what are you going to do?" Not wanting to hurt the woman, she merely held her sword-point toward Kae in a rather threatening manner. "So... Uncle?" Kae Bryseis/Kakariko/Mid-dawn/Day 1 In between the surges of pain in her arm and the weight on her chest, Kae managed to squeak a few high-pitched words out. "Unstable...get off...or we're dead..." She really wasn't sure what the energy field surrounding her arm would do...all she knew is that with it being attuned to her it would do something to defend her, but defense was a very broad definition where conjuring cosmic energy was concerned. Her eyes started to glow the same bright shade as her arm, and a loud, sick, sizzling sound was heard. That was all she could remember before she passed out from the pain wracking her fragile frame. Lynn was lucky that she'd pinned Kae's arm away, because a large, no-recoil ray of energy left a trench in the ground about two feet deep ranging from the place she landed to the hillside. When the energy dissipated, Kae's arm looked like a night-sky. Her tattoos were sparkling as the stars contained, but she lay there motionless. The scuffle drew a small crowd of disrupted training soldiers, and now it had attracted a few more. Nora came running out of the fortune teller's shop looking visibly disturbed, but it would take her a while to reach the scene due to the people hanging around the area. Day 1/Hidden Kakariko/Lynn Annei/Morning At the very last moment Lynn released Kae's arm. Then there was a blinding flash right before her eyes, and her palm seared with a strangely cold heat. When the flash faded and Lynn's vision returned, she first looked at her palms. The one that had held down Kae's arm was red and dry; somewhat crispy. Then she noticed, behind her hands, that Kae's arm had disappeared. "Oh goddess... Kae? Kae, are you alright?" Her friend looked woozy and distant, her eyes glazed over and her her breathing shallow. What have I done? It was just training''!'' She patted Kae's cheek with her good hand, trying to rouse the mage. Just then, the Fortune Teller made it close enough to discern the details of the situation. "You fool." she chastised her student. "You must learn to control your power! Have you learned nothing I taught you? Well, the drain on your spirit should serve as a lesson. And you better believe that arm will be in pain when it reforms into flesh." Lynn then refocused on Kae's missing limb. Missing was actually a misnomer, she found: the limb was still there, only it was an ethereal mist sprouting from Kae's shoulder. Without thinking, Lynn reached down to touch the stardust. Kae Bryseis/Kakariko/Mid-dawn/Day 1 She saw some things in her incapacitation. Most were meaningless symbols, but her arm felt like it had been run through a patch of stinging nettle. Anything that touched that stardust would probably get the same feeling creep up their limb. Quite uncomfortable, and even in a sleep state it would be lucid pain. The shouting of her master almost seemed like a dream too until Lynn touched her face. Kae was very woozy, but she looked down at her arm as soon as she woke up and shuddered a bit. "It's not gone...I'm so sorry! The whole thing just...fizzled." If there was going to be caustic pain like she anticipated, no potion in the world could remedy that short of one that knocked her out. Even then, she'd feel it in her sleep, and that'd be counterproductive. "Those shards sometimes like to protect their masters. Not totally sentient, but instinctive. We call on cosmic energies...and the replies can vary...master, I am sorry..." She stumbled to her feet, blushing in embarrassment, extending her non-wispy hand to Lynn. "If you touched my arm, whatever came in contact with it is going to sting something fierce for a few hours, but no permanent damage. What-oh crap..." When she saw the damage caused, she blushed even more and drew her hood up over her head, cursing under her breath. The burning sensation in her arm began again... There was no hiding that Kae's pain was magnifying. She winced a good deal and held it in, though. "Come back to the shop with me. I guess we can discuss where we're headed while this wears off. Hope you're not hurting too much either." "And I'll be sure to give you more of an earful when we do return, apprentice. Be glad the damage isn't permanent." Gritting her teeth, Kae stumbled back to the shop. Her arm felt like it was about to combust as the ethereal mist started to return to flesh. Wispy ephemera sizzled from under her drawn cloak, and it smelled of dry, charged air. Title Transition Day 1/Hidden Kakariko/Lynn Annei/Late Morning Lynn stared at her red-seared palm, flexing it open and closed. The pain was unsettling, to say the very least. Like countless tiny ants digging their mandibles into her flesh. It would be a distraction, if it didn't heal by the time they reached the Ordon Province, but she'd deal with it. That was how she was trained: overcome distraction, focus on the goal, and complete it. No compromise. She then returned her attention to Kae. No doubt her slowly reforming arm felt the same as Lynn's palm. It had to be unbearable; that was the whole limb! "No, thank you, Kae. I should pack and prepare for the trip to Ordon. I'll stop by your place this evening, and help get you settled up and ready. By then I should have talked to the chief and gotten our orders straight. "Heal swiftly and well. I'm sorry I pushed you... but you need to not lose control like that out in the field. You're liable to get yourself, or me, or hell, even both of us killed." She turned from Kae and walked away. There was work to be done. Kae Bryseis/Kakariko/Mid-dawn/Day 1 Kae winced a bit more and nodded at Lynn. "No worries there. Thanks for teaching me a valuable lesson today, and I'm sorry about that bad spell...see you tonight." Clutching her arm, she took off running to the shop and didn't even wait for Nora to catch up. Her cloak cast aside and hung up, Kae took out some gauze and a few salves and started preparing a dressing for her very raw arm. The skin was seeping with blood along where her tattoos were, and the rest just looked like it was seeping a clear fluid. It burned horribly and the pain had only intensified as the arm re-phased into existence...Kae was just about to apply the bandages when Nora stepped into the shop. "Apprentice, we need to talk. About a lot of things. First, your little accident. Second, the seriousness of your deployment. Third, your brother. What order do you want to deal with it in? Also, wait a bit before you apply the dressing. I need you to remember that pain for just a while longer." Kae looked dejected and left the gauze off to the side for a moment. "You know very well the dressing will be no good at that point, master?" "I'll preserve it. Now which order?" Bouncing around a few thoughts, she decided the worst would be first. "Just give it to me quick, master. I need to get this on my arm soon." Nora poured herself a glass of wine and gave a brief instruction on why focusing as much energy as her apprentice did could prove lethal. Such power was not meant to be harnessed with that much magnitude. Calling on cosmic energies from beyond can prove quite disastrous, especially when the unpredictable star shards get an idea of sorts to protect their summoners. She then explained how she almost killed herself twenty years prior by making an impact crater near Death Mountain thanks to a botched divination. "Now you can put it on. Be careful and don't rush it." Kae did so as Nora explained the next part of what mattered: the gravity of the mission. It was methodical and meticulous, this bandaging. It'd stay on for a few days and the arm would be good as new. The mission, however, was not going to be easy. Of course, investigate the disturbances in Ordon. Of course, fight and kill. Furthermore, try to find Jaden in the mess of it all and pray he wasn't corrupted or lost or captured or dead or worse. Her parents were out there doing the same thing, but Nora had been reluctant to tell Kae this. They wanted her out there helping them in their search, to an extent. Rumors existed of a pendant in the forest as well, one that was very attuned with the same cosmic energies that they channeled. "Your brother will press on, as he always does. He is in danger, but nothing he cannot overcome. He will need you, because he will elude your parents. Proving himself is foolish at this time, but that is the Paladin-sized stick firmly inserted in his backside. It can't be helped." The rest of the day was spent watching, waiting, and divining plans for the mission. Kae was hoping the Chieftain wouldn't be too crazy in his plans for Lynn and herself. At least Nora's divinations soothed her a bit... Day 2/Hidden Kakariko/Lynn Annei/Very Early Morning Lynn pounded her fist against the firm wooden door. The thumping broke into the deadness of the still morning air; it was even enough to shake the hinges, such was her urgency. "Kae! Will you wake up!" Brief moments later, the door opened to a weary-looking Kae. She was the opposite of Lynn, at the moment, who was fully dressed, hair pulled up into a safe bun on her head, an assortment of weapons and other instruments attached to her jumpsuit here and there, and a middling-sized pack on her shoulders. Poor Kae had her arm completely wrapped in medicated bandages, her hair was tousled from her short night's rest, and she wore only a sleeping robe. "Lynn? What's so urgent? Do you know how early it is?" Lynn didn't wait for the end of Kae's query before she entered the house. "You must pack. Quickly. We are leaving tonight. Word just came in from Castle Town. There are reports of magic-users fighting in the streets. Gouts of flame in the air. Very bad. Boss-man wants us out there investigating now. The trail of fire is reported to head off toward Lake Hylia and the Zora's Domain. If we travel swiftly we can be there by tonight." She was already starting to shove some of Kae' things into a pack as she spoke. She knew better than to touch the lab equipment, but basic field tech was easy enough to deal with. "Why are you standing there? Go change!" Kae Bryseis/Hidden Kakariko/0-dark 30/day 2 Kae wasn't used to these early-morning disturbances. She slept light because she often stayed up late reading and experimenting with her rotes and alchemy, so only a few hours worth of sleep did not do her much good when Lynn came banging on the door. She was at least lucky she was home alone in one case; she could prepare bandages without her parents freaking out. "It'll take a little bit of time. If you're helping, don't forget my book of spells and book of lore. I'll assemble the lab, but I need to use it to prepare another dressing. This one dried out." Flame-magic user...other arcanists, other trouble-makers, and possibly a leak through the Ordon line. On the home turf even. The brazen nature of this enraged Kae to an extent, but she didn't show it. Protecting that town was one of the paramount concerns of the Sheikah. It was time to do her part. Nora did tell her to seek out that pendant, but she figured if it was of the same nature as her magicks, no one would really know what it was if it slapped them in the face and introduced itself. The burning in her arm subsided a good deal thanks to the first set of bandages. She used a bit of telekinesis to pack while she prepared the next dressing. This one was more of a moisturizer than an antibacterial. The raw feeling started to dry out and scab over. In order to avoid scarring, she infused a solution with various reagents she had in sealed tubes. These were set away just in case she got an assignment, but there was plenty left over for other first aid potions and poultice-making. Dried purplish-red fluid appeared on the used side of the old bandage. She was preparing the next set as one of her conjured shards disposed of the old gauze in a short burst of light, vaporizing it. Kae looked over at it disapprovingly and went back to work, muttering something in her magick language. Looking over at Lynn preparing her pack, she asked, "I'm assuming the orders are search and destroy? Flame magic either means a strong connection to Din or some serious inner-anger issues. The current situation very well may have awakened some unstable powers within some pretty vengeful or chaotic souls. Gouts of flame...very bad." After the dressing was applied to the bandage, Kae quickly slipped behind her dressing screen and gave herself a makeshift scrubbing before changing into her leathers. "Still tight as hell. They are flattering, so I'll put up with it." Kae braided her hair with magick as she wrapped up her arm again with the new bandage. It was healing nicely; thanks to a new formula she'd developed the night before. She also developed a few loops on her crossed belts to hold potion vials. "Arm will be fine by nightfall. I'll pack up the kit in a moment. Any time for food or are we leaving right away?" Day 2/Hidden Kakariko/Lynn Annei/Very Early Morning "Here," Lynn said as she tossed a dried wafer of travel-bread to Kae. "Not the best, but it keeps you fueled and filled. Eat while you pack, with travel time it is likely this magic-user will have left by the time we reach our destination." All the while Lynn continued to help Kae with packing, taking care to follow her directions when dealing with the equipment from her little portable lab. In less than fifteen minutes, the pair had finished. Lynn shot a skeptic glance at Kae and the somewhat cumbersome pack on her back. "Are you sure you can travel with all that equipment?" Kae shook her head. "I may not be as strong as you, but I have trained. I can handle it." "As you say, then." Lynn said with a shrug. "We do not have time for good-byes, we're heading right out of town. Now. I suppose you can give Nora one of those telepathic messages, but we are leaving." And Lynn stepped outside the house and toward the village gates. Travel Kae Bryseis/Hyrule Field/dayspan/Day 2 Making haste. Something Kae did not enjoy, but apparently something she needed to get used to. She didn't even know what her rank was in the society due to all the training and scholar work cloistering her. Then again, rank was just one more thing to worry about in her mind. Serving was good enough as long as there weren't too many tags binding her. They traveled mostly in silence, mainly because Kae's mind was overdriven with thought. She paid attention to her surroundings well enough, and listened to the tactical advice Lynn had to offer. It was a clear and calm day almost seeming too quiet. Hardly anyone was out today, and if they were, they weren't going out into the Field. A few military patrols were making their way down to Ordona, and Kae was partially glad she wasn't following. Her arm nagged her a good deal, but she assured herself that the dressing would soothe the stinging pain by nightfall. She was tempted to take one of the potions in her belt to ease it, but those were for emergencies. Little nuisances weren't worth the cost of the stuff Nora bought for her to work with. But it was still too quiet. Kae broke the silence by asking about the land and commenting on how great it looked or the historical significance of one site or another. She hadn't seen the expanses of Hyrule Field for a good while, save her trips to Castle Town on errands. Lynn kept reminding her to be aware, lest she end up grappled from behind like last time - or worse. It would take a lot of gall for interlopers to strut around in the expanses around Hyrule's crux of government; then again these invaders had that kind of brazen contempt. Kae hadn't ever done this much walking, and her fatigue looked obvious. They paused for a few rests so that Kae could catch her breath and drink some water, and then pressed on. The sun was setting as the Hylia Bridge appeared on the horizon...and she had some nervous bits of expression cross her face. Other casters...I know how to make it all fizzle, but I freeze up so much! All I remember is what Brother taught me about fighting: don't over-think, don't underestimate, just do what will end it fast with me still alive. I can't sense anything at the moment, but I can't focus right now. "You will be tested shortly, apprentice. No safety nets! They want you dead, and they won't stop. Kill them first or get them to surrender, preferably the former." Lynn tapped her on the back of the neck to un-freeze her, but Kae's unease was obvious. "Kae, we need to keep moving. Sun's going down, we'll not be catching them without good positioning." The arcanist nodded and kept moving along, but was reassured by a simple fact: Her powers were much stronger under moonlight. Star shards wouldn't go unstable then, and spells would be easier to channel. A mischievous grin replaced that visible worry at a disturbing rate as they approached the Bridge. Evening 2/Hyrule Field/Lynn Annei As they approached the Bridge, Lynn motioned to Kae to be quiet and stay put. It was getting darker, the sun was touching the horizon now, but Lynn could see movement on the other side of the span. That, however, was not what caused her take pause. The ground was scarred with scorch marks and blood. Bodies littered the pathway, most stacked in piles, others still lying out an unattended. There had been a battle here, and only just recently; within the past few days or so. "Not good," she murmured to Kae when she returned to where the mage waited. "Big fight happened here, and just recently... there is no way to tell which side won, though. We have to be careful." Kae nodded, and Lynn noticed her take on that look of concentration she had seen before. The "I'm using magic" look. One of her signature shards appeared floating near her. For her merit, Lynn left her weapons sheathed. Better not to cause undue worry in whoever patrolled ahead. The pair of Sheikah scouts started their way across the stone. Halfway across they were greeted with a shout, graciously spoken in Hylian, albeit rough. "Halt, you two! Come forward real nice'n slow. No funny business!" So the two progressed slowly, hands at their sides as to not provoke an aggressive response from whatever archers were undoubtedly atop the towers. Kae's star shard floated near her uninjured hand, looking for all the world like a torch when seen from a distance. "Hail, soldiers! We come dispatched from His Majesty the King of Hyrule, on urgent business!" called out Lynn in greeting. "Perhaps you might tell of the battle that we clearly see the aftermath of here? A Twili scouting party made it this deep into our lands?" The response was quick. "Aye, woman. Caught us by surprise, they did. And there are a few still in the area, even. We lost a few soldiers last night, even, after we thought the battle was won and over. What brings you ambassadors here-out from the King?" Lynn glanced at Kae. She had a bad feeling, for some reason. "As said, urgent business. We make our way to the Lake below. If you will let us pass to the path down, we will be none of your concern." A small chuckle answered her request. "No, woman. You see, last night, one of those soldiers was out captain... and now that I'm in charge, some of us are thinking Hyrule isn't the right side of this war. These Twili got magic like we've never seen before. And they're looking for mercenaries to fight for them, for a nicer profit than what the King's paying us. "Now, I ask again, tell me why the King sends two unescorted women out through Hyrule Field in a time of war? Must be important. Maybe we'll treat you real nice if you cooperate?" So, then, that was their game. Take whatever information they could out of His Majesty's messengers, use the information to profit when turning it over to their new master's, and probably rape and kill the two women. "I feel bad for you." Lynn sneered. "Because we're 'traitors'? Ha!" Lynn laughed back. "Hell no! Because you're dead!" She threw down the Deku nut she had shimmied from her belt pouch during the man's rant, and a flash broke into the darkening evening, blinding those who had been looking down at the Sheikah. She unsheathed her swords both and charged forward, into the ranks of the traitors. Her steel would show no mercy to those who would turn their backs on their oaths. Kae Bryseis/Hylia Bridge/Dusk/Day 2 Kae quickly hit cover when the deku nut went off; knowing she would need a few more shards. They were quickly conjured, and one went flying into the air towards the moon. It would be ready to rain cosmic death upon the towers soon enough...and those traitorous soldiers would be fools to underestimate two young women. She focused her power a bit while Lynn engaged in melee, and a shroud of purplish-white effervescence started to cascade off of her. Actual combat. Outnumbered. But Kae didn't feel too fazed by it. Once the moonfire hit those towers, their odds would be evened. It would take a minute...so while she waited, she crouched behind a decently-sized rock and fired a few volleys off at soldiers that were not close enough to Lynn so as to cause an accident. Arrows started clinking off the rock she ducked behind shortly thereafter. She'd gotten their attention. Time to refocus... Words of Power carried louder than she'd intended. They sounded dark, eerie, and cryptic. The result: night-vision and increased awareness of life-forms on the battlefield. They had an incandescent glow of red, while Lynn was blue. Friendly targets were not to be shot at. Those arrows started ticking Kae off, and she didn't feel like waiting for the moonfire to come, so she sent one of her four shards off towards the other tower and had it detonate. A large flash lit up the sky as the left tower burst into pink, wispy flames. "All traitors must be purged with the light of beyond!" It was time. Kae ducked out from behind the rock and began to channel her spell as an arrow winged her damaged arm. It didn't break her concentration, but it stung worse than the botched spell. Another one grazed her left leg, but in a few more seconds it wouldn't matter. A pink-white beam shot down from the sky and obliterated the other tower with a blinding flash of light. Without realizing it, one of her shards turned into a sword and placed itself in her hand. She didn't notice some of the soldiers heading in her direction that had survived the two apocalyptic blasts... "Don't think, just attack!" She parried one blow and dodged another, kicking off the rock and slashing one across the chest, but unfortunately was knocked prone by a leg-sweep from the other attacker. Kae had to think fast; he was going for a killing downthrust. She rolled out of the way and put a hole in his chest with a beam, and only had a rip in her cloak as a result. With Lynn in a bloodlust, Kae did her best to catch up and give her some more support before taking a defensive stance nearby. "That all you got, traitors? Come and face the might of the King's Chosen!" She wasn't even feeling drained due to the moonlight's renewing power...it was almost like the power was controlling her, not the other way around. Combined with the combat adrenaline rush, these unfamiliar feelings started to cause an unusual high for Kae. Sunfall 2/Hyrule Field/Lynn Annei Lynn continued through the soldiers' ranks, and as she moved, the enemy fell. Side-step here. Duck there. Slice, slice, cut. Another dead man weighs upon her blade. It was worth it. Her conscience felt no pangs. They deserved to die. Traitorous curs. Disobedient dogs. Begging for scraps from the invaders, instead of taking the freely offered meal from their home country. Was loyalty truly so difficult? No. It was easy as a dodge to the left, a quick, disturbing smirk into the eyes of fear behind the misjudged thrust, and then a twist of the wrist. Small spray of blood... Loyalty. This was duty. But it was also a distraction from their true mission. Lynn's vision cleared, the tunnel of aggression widening to take in the full extent of the battle. She had killed many. Kae had killed many, with her unique magical surges. The top of one tower was gone, and the other had been completely demolished. Not good to take out their own infrastructure, Lynn would have to scold her later. But there were still a good many soldiers remaining. Too many to fight them all, not without a real threat of death. So, another solution would have to present itself. Lynn held her swords at her sides, each blade dripping with the blood of the deceased. She tilted her head slightly forward and glared, with malice. "Where is this Captain leader of yours?! Bring him to me, and you can all return to your service to Hyrule! Resist, and we'll slaughter you all!" That gave the men pause. Some looked at each other, no doubt debating the offer. A few broke off and ran. Lynn signaled Kae, who burnt them down with her moonfire bolts. "Last chance!" Lynn shouted. A voice came out, the familiar voice of the blowhard captain. "Don't listen to her, boys! They're still just only two women! We can still kill them!" Lynn turned her head, the glare moving to track the source of the voice. She locked eyes with the disgusting pig, and saw the fear in his expression, although he tried to hide it. "Kae!" she called. "Burn them all!" The shard in the sky grew in luminescence as it charged for the destructive release. "Wait! Stop!" cracked a fearful voice. It broke the men from their trance. They turned to face the source. A single man had his weapon pointed at the so-called captain. "Sorry, but I'm not dying with you." "You oaf!" roared the leader. "You traitorous little punk!" Lynn snorted at the irony. The leader turned, fit to kill the one man who stood up to him. And the rest of the mob reacted instantly. They tackled him, holding him down, protecting the only among them who had a spine and a sense of righteousness. Lynn beckoned Kae to her side. The soldiers deposited the leader, plus a few bruises and knotted ropes, before the feet of the two Sheikah. He was gagged, as well, but stared upward at the two women in utter terror: silently begging for mercy. Lynn turned to Kae. "Kill him." The bound man pissed himself when Kae stepped forward.